A park under power lines

Coyote Creek

The Los Alamitos project is the largest of four Coyote Creek improvement projects totaling more than $2 million. The money comes largely from two ballot initiatives approved by California voters in 2002, Propositions 40 and 50.

LOS ALAMITOS - Plans to build a park under power lines near the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway are on hold while city officials try to negotiate a more favorable land lease with Southern California Edison, which owns most of the property.

Los Alamitos, which has received a $1.44 million state grant to build the park along a creek bed, must sign at least a 20-year land lease with Edison to be eligible for the state funds. The utility company has offered the city a five-year lease.

The short-term lease ensures Edison retains long-term control of the land under its power lines - necessary for making improvements and upgrades as electricity demands change, said Southern California Edison spokesman Steve Conroy.

"We were very clear that the best we would likely be able to do was a five-year lease," Conroy said, noting that the company typically offered one-year leases. "Anything under a right-of-way (for a power line) cannot impact the utilities or the system."

High-voltage transmission lines run the length of the narrow, 4.15-acre strip of land along Coyote Creek, a concrete-lined riverbed that separates Los Alamitos from Long Beach.

Los Alamitos officials worked with a state agency, the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, to get funding for the park last year.

The proposal calls for building a dirt-bottom, meandering stream next to the concrete-lined Coyote Creek, then allowing water to be redirected through the stream and naturally cleansed by soil and plant life in a process called bio-remediation.

"It's so urbanized that it's a highly polluted creek," said Jane Beesley, project analyst for the conservancy. "A stream that's been planted correctly will filter the water. It will make the ocean cleaner."

The proposal also includes planting native trees, shrubs and wildflowers along an existing bike trail by the creek bed. Picnic tables, benches and shade structures would round out the park's offerings.

"We're hopeful that this can get resolved," City Manager Luci Romero Serlet said. "It is an important project."

Edison officials, who say they want to find a mutually agreeable plan to accommodate the Los Alamitos park, will study the matter further over the next month, Conroy said.

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